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VHP serves them cocktail of karate, culture

VHP serves them cocktail of karate, culture

Author: Satish Nandgaonkar
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 13, 2002

Karate may not be a swadeshi martial art, but it does not really matter. In the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's package for the Bharatiya nari, it certainly has a place. But not jeans.

At a three-day bravery training camp for women (Mahilansathi Shaurya Prashikshan Shibir, officially) at a high school in Chembur in north-eastern Mumbai, the VHP women's wing, Durgavahini, has been giving 119 women lessons in karate, yoga, fighting with bamboo sticks and rifle-shooting. That is apart from lectures on Ramjanmabhoomi and 'western cultural invasion'.

A large VHP flag flutters on a pole near a small dais in the sprawling school ground. At the edge of the ground, stands an imposing sculpture depicting a war sequence from the Kargil war - the Pakistani army on hilltops fighting the Indian soldiers on the ground. Inside a courtyard in the school, several rows of salwar-kameez-clad girls are having a mook bhojan (silent luncheon).

Many of the teenage girls knew nothing about the ideology Durgavahini subscribes to when they joined. Some knew an RSS acquaintance who suggested that the camp was good for personality development. Some were attracted by the self-defence techniques the camp would teach. But on Tuesday, the last of the three-day camp, they seemed convinced how "forced" conversions should be banned, the "symbolic" significance of constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya, and how the "frivolous" trend like the Valentine's and Friendship Day celebrations were not part of the Indian culture.

"We, of course, had lectures and discussions on a range of topics including VHP's three-point Shri Ramjanmabhoomi programme, Western cultural invasion, the poor portrayal of women in advertising, and Indian cinema, the scientific basis for Indian cultural values etc. We had girls from various income groups, and belonged to Maharashtrian, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Hindi, and Punjabi-speaking families," said Ranjana Darpe, the chief co-ordinator of the camp.

According to Darpe, the camp was aimed at developing the self-confidence of Mumbai's girls. "They discussed about the attacks on women like the Jayabala Asher incident or the Borivali train rape, and were told about how they could protect themselves with the self-defence techniques. They were shy when they joined, but they were made to express their opinions such issues, and they emboldened," Darpe said.

Most of the girls are impressed. Said Anita Landge, a 19-year-old F.Y.B Com student from SNDT College, Matunga: "I am finishing my NCC training this year, and I have attended several camps. But this camp was truly different. I learnt rifle-shooting, river-crossing and rappelling in the NCC, but the whole emphasis remained on military exercises. But in this camp, there was emphasis on cultural values. We sang bhajans together. I learnt karate techniques. I have already decided to join the next camp in May."

Nineteen-year-old Durga Mote, S.Y.B.Com student in a Girgaum college, said she was sceptical about the camp when an RSS acquaintance recommended it. "Nationalism is good. It is not necessary that it is linked with the Ramjanmabhoomi issue all the time. But, forcible conversions should not be allowed," she said.

15-year-old Neha Dubey, a Class IX student in YS School in Kurla, recalled the talk by Dada Vedak, VHP regional convenor for Maharashtra and Goa during the camp.

"Dada said we have to move ahead with the feeling that the temple at Ramjanmabhoomi is going to be made one day. We were explained how the Western culture worships stree murti (women's physical form), while the Hindu culture worships the stree shakti (the power of womanhood). I understand that one has to learn English to build one's career in today's times, but I do not approve of wearing jeans."

Shraddha Thakur, 19year-old computer student from Borivali, supported the discussions on the meaninglessness of Valentine's Day.

"There is always some day to he celebrated. These are not part of our culture," she said.

The VHP women's wing offered a strategy too." We were also explained how we could protest against the poor portrayal of women in ads and films by writing letters against them," Thakur added.
 


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